Supreme Court, in 6-3 decision, upholds state legislation excluding boys from girls’ sports teams
July 01, 2026
In a defeat for the transgender movement, the United States Supreme Court ruled in a 6-3 decision that states are permitted to “determine eligibility for female sports based on biological sex.”
The Fourteenth Amendment does not prevent states from “treat[ing] all biological males the same and treat[ing] all biological females the same, given the inherent physical differences between biological males and biological females,” Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote for the Court in West Virginia v. B. P. J. Likewise, “the texts of Title IX, the Javits Amendment, and the Title IX regulations do not say (or even hint) that schools must allow certain biological males to participate in women’s and girls’ sports.”
In his concurring opinion, Justice Clarence Thomas wrote:
Men and boys with gender dysphoria are not women or girls, even if they believe that they are. Sex is an immutable “biological” characteristic; it is binary; and “man” and “woman,” “boy” and “girl,” are the terms that correspond to adults and children of each sex. To use language to obscure reality—to show “indifference regarding the truth”—is to lie to the public and cease to treat our fellow citizens “as equal[s].”
In an amicus curiae (friend of the court) brief, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) had urged the Court to uphold the constitutionality of the state legislation.
“If Catholic schools were forced to allow males to compete on or against their female-only teams, they would need to abandon athletics programs or stop accepting federal funding,” attorneys for the bishops’ conference argued. “That is because al lowing such competition would undermine fundamental Catholic teachings regarding the immutable, God-given differences between the sexes.”
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Further information:
- West Virginia v. B. P. J. (Supreme Court, 6/30/26)
- West Virginia v. B.P.J. (Transgender Athletes) (SCOTUSblog, 6/30/26)
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